Let's say that you have an opportunity to gain billions to fix the society from the top. Do you think that you would keep your integrity and use your money for the greater good, or that you would be corrupted by your power?
If so, would you still accept the offer knowing that you would just make the situation worse?
And if you believe in yourself, how would you try to convince an hypotetical entity to give you this wealth?
To avoid regrets let's say that if you decline the offer your memory about the deal gets erased.
Let’s say that you have an opportunity to gain billions to fix the society from the top.
Society can not, and never will be, fixed from the top.
Nor is money the solution to our problems, if anything, it is a huge part of the cause (and why communism aspires to a moneyless society, among other things).
So even if I say I'd only accept the money if I could instantly redistribute it, as long as other billionaires, and the systems that create and uphold them, exist, my personal actions would probably make little difference in the long run, and any money I shared would end up right back in their pockets (by virtue of how capitalism works).
I will hire people much smarter than me to fix those problems. Climate change? 100 billion to the scientist with the green coat. Poverty? 80 billion to the guy who gave away his only scrap of food. I will become the master delegator. Heck I’ll even have a guy who will do the delegating. Literally have the money do the work for you.
- Build lots of free housing everywhere
- Lowers rent significantly
- Create a new healthcare provider that everyone is automatically included in with fees of $0
- Healthcare providers will have to lower their fees to even try to compete
- Lobby government for fairness doctrine to he reinstated
- Right-wing media gets neutered
- Create plentiful public food gardens
- Retailers have to lower their prices
- Create a 500km tall gold statue of myself
- Satellites now have to clear larger orbits.
- Shining dong to inspire the masses
- Build lots of free housing everywhere
I'd move to Cuba and bankroll the worldwide working class adventure.
Being in a place like Cuba will keep you grounded, you can't go ape shit with spending on nonsense and use it to aggrandize your power. I'd just chill on some Caribbean beaches and smoke cigars with some older Cubans until the bourgeoisie is overthrown.
i think super rich people do fucked up shit because:
- that's the only way you become mega-rich, and
- they want more
if i already have 'infinite' money, why would i want more, and since i'm getting this via magic or something, there's no incentive to be evil in order to become or remain mega-rich. in short, yeah, i reckon i'd be alright, and we'd all be better off in the long run.
- that’s the only way you become mega-rich
People have become billionaires by literal lottery. They're not evil geniuses; don't flatter them by suggesting so.
according to this list, nobody has gotten a billion from a lottery, yet. but sure, i guess that is the way to get rich, without having to exploit others. i also feel like i ought to point out that i never accused anyone of being evil geniuses, just evil.
edit: fixed link
Ah, just $997.6m. My bad, I guess.
Yeah, but there's plenty of nasty mean poor people, too. If you put that incomprehensible wealth on a lack of morals you're basically painting them as a Lex Luthor figure who can just choose to outmaneuver everyone else. Meanwhile, there's pretty strong statistical evidence the ones that didn't win literal lotteries just won figurative ones.
Yes, because I didn't sell my soul bit by bit stepping on the hands of others over an extended period of time to get it, my mind is still that of a worker with a rage for injustice.
No, but give it to me anyways because I'd do something incredibly funny with it (Devote the remainder of my life to gaining access to a bunch of influential people and politicians so I can tell them to eat shit to their face, resting assured that they can't levee any meaningful consequences against me)
Yeah, I'd give it a shot. I'd hire a bunch of experts instead of just shooting from the hip though.
Climate change is a big priority.
I absolutely would not trust myself, but I also feel deeply that I should be allowed to test this hypothesis with lived experience.
Yes, because I have fixed goals that are for what I consider the greater good of humanity, and an unlimited amount could be spent on them.
I trust my will to do it. But I will fail for two reasons:
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I don't fully understand humans. I will try a world that would be perfect if everyone would be like me. Problem? That's not the world we live in.
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Even with all the money and a good plan I'm a bullet away from the ground. And I'm pretty sure anyone trying to fix things becomes a priority target right away.
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I'd basically become Bill Gates without the monopoly.
People criticise the big philanthropists for skewing all the work their way, but that's more a product of not enough funding elsewhere than of the foundations being bad themselves.
I would trust myself, but I know that I would be the villain in some people's lives.
